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The careless driver behind Sam Puttick tragedy

The motorist who caused the crash that paralysed Sam Puttick, setting in motion a chain of events that ended in the boy's parents committing suicide at Beachy Head, was later convicted of careless driving.

Nine months after the accident in 2005, magistrates fined Josephine Elias £660 with £75 costs and endorsed her driving licence with seven points.

Although the offence was considered minor, it was to have huge ramifications.

The accident caused Sam a catastrophic spinal injury that left him paralysed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own, although his brain was unimpaired.

He died at the age of five from meningitis 10 days ago, leaving his parents Neil and Kazumi so distraught that they leapt from the notorious suicide spot near Eastbourne with their son's body in a rucksack.

Elias, 52, a property consultant, runs a surveying company in Bath with her husband Tim.